Lin Min

    linmin67@126.com

    LEARNING ancient Chinese poems may be a formidable task for many foreigners. But a recently published book combines Chinese learning with ink-painting and music, making it interesting to learn classical Chinese poetry.

    Zhang Yiping’s new English-language book, titled “Together With Me, Learn Chinese Culture & Language by Enjoying Paintings, Music & Poetry,” was published by Jinan University Press and is a crystallization of Zhang’s 12-year effort to help foreigners learn Chinese culture through ancient poems, paintings and music, which she sees as three major elements of traditional Chinese culture.

    The book is based on 12 poems by famous poets from the Tang (618-907), Song (960-1279) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Each poem is accompanied by pinyin pronunciations, English translations, information about the poet and subjects raised in the poem, as well as vocabulary. Zhang herself made an ink painting for each poem, to help illustrate them. The paintings are unique in China because a poem and its English version are written on each of them.

    A music lover, Zhang also composed music for each poem and sang them in Chinese and English. Each book is accompanied with a DVD that contains the music and text of the book. Readers can also hear Zhang recite the poems in Chinese in addition to her bilingual songs.

    Convinced that Chinese ink paintings can serve as an ideal medium to disseminate Chinese culture, Zhang has spent the past three years studying at China Central Academy of Fine Arts and Chinese National Academy of Arts in Beijing.

    She continually updates her website, www.ebridge.cn, which she built in 2005 to introduce Chinese culture to the outside world. The site has about 11,000 registered users from more than 30 countries.

    Before migrating to Shenzhen in 1992, Zhang taught Chinese classical literature in college for nine years and could recite more than 1,000 classical poems and essays. In Shenzhen, she became an editor of a magazine and a newspaper, and then an executive of Shenzhen Securities Information Co. Even in her busy career, she continued to study, taking up courses in Chinese literature, English, world economics, journalism, business administration and Chinese paintings in eight universities in China and the United States.

    After graduating from Missouri State University with a master’s degree in 2009, Zhang, who had already received a doctoral degree from a Chinese university before going abroad, held two free art exhibitions in the United States and donated income from another two exhibitions to charities. She also gave 66 Chinese ink painting lectures and presentations there, free of charge. Her songs of ancient Chinese poems were broadcast four times by East Kentucky Broadcasting Corp.

    Zhang has no regrets about the time and money she’s spent spreading Chinese culture.

    “All of my efforts are worthwhile,” she said.

    The new book displays the efforts and versatility of the self-made Chinese cultural ambassador, and shows a creative way of learning traditional Chinese culture.The cover of Zhang Yiping’s new book on Chinese culture.